TSX nose-dives on oil and gold prices, Wall St. backs off recent record gains

TORONTO -- Canada's main stock index fell sharply in a broad-based decline Monday, led by a slide in oil and gold prices, as U.S. stocks backed away from recent record highs.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index fell 144.50 points to 16,094.72, with the energy, gold and materials sectors among major decliners.

"We're clearly seeming some selling today on the TSX," said Craig Fehr, a Canadian markets strategist with Edward Jones in St. Louis. "The downside pressure in Canada, as compared to that of United States and, really, other global markets, is from the drop in oil and gold prices."

The March crude contract gave back 58 cents to US$65.56 per barrel and the February gold contract fell US$11.80 to US$1,340.30 an ounce.

Meanwhile, south of the border, technology companies led Wall Street broadly lower, as shares of Apple slid two per cent amid concerns its new iPhone hasn't been that big of a hit with customers.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 177.23 points to 26,439.48. The S&P 500 index declined 19.34 points to 2,853.53 and the Nasdaq composite index was down 39.26 points to 7,466.51.

In currency markets, the Canadian dollar closed at an average trading value of 81.07 cents US, down 0.09 of a U.S. cent.

"Probably the biggest headline today is what's to come the rest of the week," said Fehr, pointing to a busy week of potential market-moving corporate news and economic data coming out of the U.S..

Several big-name companies are due to report quarterly results, including Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google's parent company Alphabet. About a quarter of the companies in the S&P 500 -- the American equivalent to the TSX -- have reported results so far this earnings season, with some 65 per cent of those exceeding financial analysts' expectations, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The market will also be sizing up new data on U.S. jobs, manufacturing and consumer sentiment. They'll also be watching Tuesday night's State of the Union address and listening for any developments out of a two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve's policymaking committee that ends Wednesday.

Elsewhere in commodities, the March natural gas contract was down a cent to US$3.17 per mmBTU and the March copper contract was down a cent at US$3.19 a pound.

- With files from The Associated Press.